Mapping growth patterns and genetic influences on early brain development in twins

Yasheng Chen, Hongtu Zhu, Dinggang Shen, Hongyu An, John Gilmore, Weili Lin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite substantial progress in understanding the anatomical and functional development of the human brain, little is known on the spatial-temporal patterns and genetic influences on white matter maturation in twins. Neuroimaging data acquired from longitudinal twin studies provide a unique platform for scientists to investigate such issues. However, the interpretation of neuroimaging data from longitudinal twin studies is hindered by the lacking of appropriate image processing and statistical tools. In this study, we developed a statistical framework for analyzing longitudinal twin neuroimaging data, which is consisted of generalized estimating equation (GEE2) and a test procedure. The GEE2 method can jointly model imaging measures with genetic effect, environmental effect, and behavioral and clinical variables. The score test statistic is used to test linear hypothesis such as the association between brain structure and function with the covariates of interest. A resampling method is used to control the family-wise error rate to adjust for multiple comparisons. With diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we demonstrate the application of our statistical methods in quantifying the spatiotemporal white matter maturation patterns and in detecting the genetic effects in a longitudinal neonatal twin study. The proposed approach can be easily applied to longitudinal twin data with multiple outcomes and accommodate incomplete and unbalanced data, i.e., subjects with different number of measurements.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMedical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention - MICCAI2009 - 12th International Conference, Proceedings
Pages232-239
Number of pages8
EditionPART 2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2009
Event12th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2009 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: Sep 20 2009Sep 24 2009

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
NumberPART 2
Volume5762 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference12th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, MICCAI 2009
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period09/20/0909/24/09

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